The Visayas

Ahhhhhh....the beauty of those crystal clear Philippine waters was magnificent and just beckoned one to jump right in (which I did everyday). I flew from Puerto Princesa to the city of Cebu on the island of Cebu. I spent a cockroach filled night in a city that is only slightly less crazy than Manila at a mall watching Ocean's Thirteen, the first cinema experience of my trip. Before the film started we all had to stand up and sing along to the Philippino national anthem! The next day, I awoke super early to catch a bus to the tiny island of Malapascua, off the northern tip of Cebu. I must be cursed as far as Filipino buses go since this one got a flat tire as well, yet despite this, we managed to make it to the port town of Maya only 1 hour later than the estimated 4 hour time. I then bartered to purchase the local (not foreigner) price to board the little fishing boat to take us the half an hour journey to Malapascua. I met Billy (a "wee" Irishman) on board and we decided to split a lovely (if overpriced) bungalow right smack on the beach. I then showered off the days travel grit and headed to the floating bar located just out to sea where it was happy hour. I met another few travelers who had already been on the island for a few days and knew some good dive spots and so decided to go diving with them the following day. We dove with DiveLink with Danny as our guide. I hadn't properly dived for some time and so was a bit anxious setting out, though not as anxious as I was soon to be. I knew that there was a reported current in this area where we were diving, but generally when doing a "Drift Dive" one swims with the current (using it as a propeller) rather than against it. We swam straight down against the current with no line and so I was flapping around trying to orientate myself while Danny was down there chasing after me so I didn't disappear into the depths. Finally I righted myself and we swam on seeing lovely sea creatures along the way: baby white-tipped reef sharks, sting rays, squid, hard and soft coral, shrimp, lobster, and a myriad of colorful fish. Since I'd worn myself out already we only did the one dive that day. Soon after reaching shore, I ran into a young Australian couple, Josh and Jodi, whom I had been sporadically running into since Vietnam. We decided to do our PADI Advanced Diving Course together which consisted of 5 specific dives over three days. We chose to do the following dives: a deep dive (at least 30 meters or 90 feet deep) to see Manta Rays, a wreck dive, a Navigation dive (where you use a compass), a Tunnel dive, and a Night Dive. We began the next day with an afternoon deep dive. We headed out to Monad Shoal and descended to 36 meters along a line to wait for the giant Manta Rays. While waiting, we did some long addition exercises with our instructor (Eddison) in order to show us the possible effects of Nitrogen Narcosis. N.N is a state underwater when there isn't enough oxygen in the blood and a diver that is too deep begins to feel a bit high/tipsy and is unable to effectively make good diving decisions thus possibly endangering themselves or their diver buddy. After correctly answering the math questions (a major feat in and of itself considering my rather poor math skills on land) we simply waited for the giant Manta to swim our way. Luckily, it appeared almost immediately. The visibility down that deep is very poor and so the Manta literally appears out of nowhere and it is HUGE! Manta Rays are harmless and naturally curious creatures who enjoy swimming near divers and this first one was at least 5 meters in width (15 feet) and was absolutely beautiful in the way it just slowly glided past our gawking faces. It came so close above my head that I had to lay down to avoid bumping into it! This has to be the best dive I've ever had as I have never been in such close contact with such an awesome (in every sense of the word) creature. We were lucky enough to see it 3 more times before we had to ascend. I loved this dive so much that I went back again the following day and was able to see a different, yet no less impressive, Manta Ray 4 different times.
I also was to do my first night dive that day and since I am a scaredy cat by nature I was a little apprehensive of doing a night dive, but it was a great experience. We began the dive at sunset in order to see the brightly colored little Mandarin fish mating and then continued the dive into the night seeing sea horses and tons of different shellfish along the way. It was rather spooky being down there in the dark as it is completely pitch black and the only thing you can see is the light from the other divers' flashlights beaming into the darkness. That night, Saturday, was the night of the weekly local disco and so we all decided that we had to show up. And local it was! There must have been everyone on the island in attendance that night and they all knew how to get down! Basically, it was a series of small disco lights strung up over the local basketball court with several large speakers surrounding the court pumping out random 80s and 90s pop and disco music. We spent the night dancing with the little kids and locals enjoying the cultural meshing of our group and theirs. The following day we had our Navigation Dive which was rather boring as we had to form a square underwater using a compass and count our kick cycles, though the surrounding coral life was quite beautiful. On Monday June 18th we had a big day: it was the day of the wreck dive which every one, dive masters and students alike, were looking forward to. We were out to find the wreck of the passenger ferry Dona Marilyn which capsized in 1988. According to Eddison, the captain of the ferry realized that something was wrong and got the ferry to shallow water where he called in for help. The captain was then instructed to turn back out to sea as the insurance would not pay for damages in shallow water. As a result, the boat sunk in deep water killing all 2,000 + passengers on board. The veracity of the story has yet to be verified, but it sure makes for a good dive story. The site of the wreck lay about 1.5 hours by boat from the shores of Malapascua. We made good time there, but it took us another 2.5 hours to actually find the bloody thing! The wreck is literally out in the middle of the ocean and DiveLink has several times placed a buoy over the site as a marker, but cunning local fishermen repeatedly cut it down in order to force the dive boats to pay them 500 pesos (roughly $12) for the guidance in finding it. We finally gave in after we were unable to find it for 2 hours and the fishermen immediately located it. Exulted, we all jumped in and proceeded to descend 28 meters into extremely murky waters. We were unable to even see the wreck until we were almost on top it. Since Jodi and I were the wimps of the group we stayed behind with Eddison, declining to actually penetrate the wreck, rather preferring to swim around the outside. We were, however, rewarded for our apprehension as we were the only 2 to see the large manta ray swimming around the backside of the wreck; everyone else was busy getting stuck inside the wreck and trying to climb out the windows! All in all, these dives have been the best dives I have ever done with clear, cool water and a myriad of sea life all around. After 4 days of intense diving we decided to go all out and treat our dive masters and instructors to a night out on the town which didn't end until the wee hours of the morning. Being in the Philippines, where everyone speaks great English, has been really great since we have really been able to bond with the locals and learn more about their culture from their point of views.

After finishing our Advanced Course, Josh, Jodi, and I moved onto another island: the tiny island of Panglao on the very southern tip of the larger island of Bohol. N.B. The Philippines is made up of over 7,000 islands so it can get a bit confusing! We spent a few days diving around the even tinier island of Balicasag where there were beautiful coral reefs overflowing with schools of giant Trevally, yellow and black striped Butterfly fish, nudi-branches, miniature shrimp, and my first Sea Turtle! To see these docile and relaxed creatures in the water is so lovely as they are not afraid of divers and simply glide gracefully amongst you as you swim along. After spending over 2 weeks diving in the beautiful Philippine waters we thought that we should head inland for a day to explore what the island of Bohol had to offer. We decided on three things: the Chocolate Hills, the tiny gremlin-like Tarsiers, and Nuts' Huts. The Chocolate Hills where literally nothing more than a mass of small greenish-brownish colored hills in the middle of the island. Beautiful as they were to look at, they lost all magic after about 10 minutes of gazing upon them. We shortly made our way to Nuts' Huts, a health resort located in the middle of the jungle along a beautiful river. We had to hike 750 meters into the jungle before descending over 200 steps to reach the place and naturally we arrived dripping wet and ready for a lie-down in the hammocks. Feeling that we deserved some treats we ordered lavishly and ended the afternoon with ice cream and banana pancakes! We then trudged back up those 200 steps and the 750 meters into the street to meet our air-conditioned taxi and to head to the Tarsier Breeding Sanctuary. The little Tarsiers are perhaps the oddest creatures I have ever beheld and they were most certainly the inspiration behind the 80s movie The Gremlins. Unfortunately, the sanctuary left much to be desired. Even though it was supposedly a breeding program the staff never released them into the wild nor did they raise them with that objective. The poor creatures where wholly dependant on their human captors, spending all their days in a fenced-in area. There where signs everywhere saying not to hold the tarsiers, but even the staff members were allowing people to hold them. Naturally, this creates an unhealthy atmosphere for these tiny, fragile creatures. We left almost immediately after seeing their sorry state, feeling much worse after the whole experience.

Josh, Jodi, and I were all coincidentally on the same flight back to Bangkok the next day. I spent the next 4 days running errands in BK: a city which makes running errands so easy as the public transportation is clean and efficient and there are 24 hour 7-11s on every corner. I flew to Kota Kinabalu, the main city in Sabah, Borneo Malaysia on June 28th. I've been here for over a week now and have much to write about, but I will save it for another post!

I've updated my Picasa photo site with new photos and videos of underwater creatures! Enjoy!

Palawan: The Last Frontier

Palawan is one of the lesser touristed of all the islands in the Philippines. It is located within the South China Sea on the northern side and in the Sulu Sea on its southern border. It is known for its pristine beaches, wreck diving, and general lack of a tourist scene. I flew from Siem Reap, via Bangkok and Manila, to Puerto Princesa, the principle city on the island. The city is compact and busy and made for a good transition city into Filipino culture. Astonishingly, 85% of Filipinos speak English as a second language (and they speak it quite fluently too), almost all street signs, advertisements, and shop signs are in English, all the newspapers and most television is in English, and the brand of English they speak here is of the American version (making it doubly easy for me). They speak so much English here that their official language, Tagalog (pronounced TAH-GAH-LOH), isn't even taught in schools, but rather children are taught in English. Even on the ATM screen one is given the option of English or Taglish (rather than pure Tagalog)! Even when Filipinos speak Tagalog I have very little problems understanding since over 20% are loan words from English and 15% are loan words from Spanish. This change from pigeon English (in Indochina) to proper English has made traveling so much better in terms of getting what I want (without getting ripped off too much), getting where I want to go, and doing so in a timely fashion. Another way in which Filipinos are very much like Americans is that they are generally overweight or obese (very noticeable when coming from the much poorer region of Indochina) due to the consumption of junk food and chicharrones (pork rinds) by the bag full.

Coming from Indochina, where the tourist route is heavily treaded upon, Palawan was veritably deserted. I spent 4 days in Puerto Princesa and the only foreigners I met were a group of American Navy guys (for lack of the correct term, soldiers???) who were more interested in what the local women had to offer than I did (if you catch my drift). I did chance upon meeting one search-and-rescue diver among the crew who was more interested in what Palawan had to offer sea-wise and we ended up scuba diving together. Unfortunately, the visibility wasn't great, but there were tons of fish swimming all around us and being down there underwater is a generally agreeable experience. The highlight of my time in Puerto Princesa was a day trip to a fishing village called Sabang which is known for its subterranean river which is located within a cave filled to brimming with swallows and bats. I took a local jeepney (a sort of conglomeration of jeep and car parts smashed together...don't worry photos will follow) for the 3 hour, very bumpy ride south and then hopped on a little boat to take me round to the cave. Along the way we saw several sea turtles bobbing their little heads out of the water for air! Going through the cave itself was rather eerie as the swallows were head diving us at every turn making spooky calling sounds and the bats kept being awoken from their slumber only to dart down towards us before finding a new resting spot. I was glad that we only went 1.5 kilometers inside rather than the entire 8km. When we emerged back into the jungle, we had a picnic lunch which we had to guard from the group of marauding Macaque monkeys who kept leaping at us at every bite. Not only were there monkeys to deal with but there were several huge Monitor lizards crawling around. Monitor lizards are only one size down from the Komodo Dragon and no less intimidating, but Monitors are not aggressive and so simply were lazing around rather than in attack-mode. However, I had planned to walk the 6 km back to the port via the jungle trail, but after seeing the mischievous monkeys and their lizard friends I thought that perhaps I would never make it out alone and so hopped back on the boat for the return trip.

A few days later, I made the very local 9 hour bus trip north to the fishing village of El Nido, known for its crystal clear waters and multiple limestone cliffs jutting from the ocean floor. After a couple of flat tires, I arrived in the late afternoon and the rain to find a delightfully overpriced bungalow on the beach. I had yet to see any 'proper' backpackers and so was looking forward to meeting the few that I thought would be in El Nido. Luckily, I happened to meet them all (only about 6!) on the boat trip I took the following day. We hired a boat to take us to Miniloc Island known for its Big and Small Lagoon which are crystal clear pools of water surrounded by inposing limestone cliffs and are accesible only by kayak. We also went to Secret Beach which is on Maniloc Island and is only accesible only by jumping off the boat and swimming through an underwater hole. It was fantastic! The crew then cooked us up a fantastic fish grill on the white sands of one of the many beaches scattered throughout the bays. I spent the next few days in this fashion: eating fresh foods on nice beaches with new friends, until I decided it was time to move on to another group of islands known as The Visayas. The Visayas proved to be much more exhilarating than did Palawan.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is simply indescribable. It's impossible to put into words the beauty and majesty one sees upon beholding this extreme feat of architectural genius pouring forth from the Cambodian jungle. Even today, with all the restoration going on andthe hundreds of tourists inundating it on a daily basis, the jungle still threatens to overtake these ancient ruins. At many times, we had to fold back foliage and climb over erratically growing trees in order to get at the ruins themselves. It is almost possible to imagine how Angkor Wat would have looked like upon its rediscovery by the Frenchman Charles-Emile Bouillevaux in 1858 deep in the wilds of northern Cambodia. We arrived around 10 am and it took us until 4.30 pm to visit only a fraction of what the temple complex has to offer. At a shocking $20 per ticket, it is worth one's while to see as much as possible in one day, even if one is completely exhausted by the end it. I do think that Angkor Wat was well worth the $20 entrance fee because the visitor can clearly see that the majority of that money is going straight back into restoration as there are many workers placed all around the grounds and the grounds themselves are kept immaculately clean from rubbish (something which is not true for the majority of Cambodia, or Indochina for that matter). Angkor Wat is the name of the principal and most photographed temple, but the area is really made up of more than 50 major and minor temples of varying names. Building began sometime around 802 CE and ended abruptly around 1219 CE. Each temple was originally a Hindu temple honoring the gods as well as the final resting place for the particular king that constructed it. Around the mid-1500s there were no longer any references to the temples and they were simply swallowed up by the encroaching jungle until their rediscovery and subsequent excavation by the French in the late 1800s. Now, they are an UNESCO protected world heritage sight and are among the few truly outstanding sights that this part of the world has left. One really must see the temples for themselves to be able to truly appreciate their importance.

This evening I am flying out of Siem Reap ultimately headed for Puerto Princesa on the Filipino island of Palawan for 3 weeks of sea, sand, sun, and scuba diving. More about that to come in the near future.

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh was crazy! It had the best energy of any Asian city I have ever visited, with people, tuk-tuks, trash, palaces, restaurants, shops, and everything else all meshing really well into one perfectly chaotic mess. I spent 4 very pleasant days and nights there before moving onto Angkor Wat in the north. On my second full day we rented a tuk-tuk for the day to take us to the extremely depressing Choeung Ek killing fields and the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. Choeung Ek, a mere 17 kilometers outside of Phnom Penh, was the site of mass executions of the Cambodian people by the rebel group known as the Khmer Rouge. In less than 3 years (between 1975-1978), the Khmer Rouge are estimated to have brutally murdered between 1 and 2 million of its own people, roughly 20% of the entire Cambodian population. The Khmer Rouge began with senior military commanders of opposing parties, to monks, to the elite and educated, before moving onto the rural poor and members within its own party. Reasons for the mass murders are still unclear, but the man behind the genocide is well known as Pol Pot or "Brother Number One" within the regime, who unfortunately died before he was able to be brought properly to justice. Even today, the Cambodian government and the UN are unable to come to an agreement as to how to most effectively put to trial those few elderly Khmer Rouge members that survive and so there is still a lingering open wound in the hearts of all Cambodians. Visiting the killing fields was an extremely sobering experience as there was still so much fresh evidence of the murders: when wandering around the now peaceful fields one begins to notice bits of bone and fragments of clothing still embedded in the hard earth from those who perished in those mass graves. We then moved onto the Genocide Museum. This was a former high school hijacked by the Khmer Rouge and used as a facility for torture and murder of thousands of men, women, and children. Filled with photos of the deceased, one could feel the presence of all these ghosts around them and the atrocities that they suffered.

After a thoroughly depressing morning, we felt that some retail therapy was in order and so made our way to the Russian Market. The market was a surprisingly pleasant experience as none of the vendors were hawking or screaming their wares, yet left us in peace to browse as we pleased. Every stall was filled with clothes from The GAP, Old Navy, Zara, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Adidas straight from the factory complete with price tags and hangers from the company! I bought a $1 GAP tank top originally priced at $9.50 and placed by the saleswoman into a Border's Bookstore plastic bag. I then went to UCare Pharmacy (similar to CVS or Walgreen's) to buy some shampoo, but I encountered an entire row of Kirkland Signature (Costco's brand) vitamins and medicine instead. Where in the world they came from is beyond me! One thing that is supervery strange about Cambodia is that virtually all business transactions are conducted in American dollars. The ATMs only dispense American dollars, all menu prices and shop prices are in dollars, and the locals prefer to be paid in dollars rather than their local currency (the riel). It makes all transactions super easy for me, but I have never been to a country other than my own in which I can use only my own money. Bizarre!

Coming from Vietnam, one notices how much wealthier Cambodia is. Phnom Penh has a good infrastructure of roads, buildings, and everyday city things, the streets are filled with more luxury cars (Lexus', Mercedes', Hummer's, etc.) than I have seen since leaving the states, there is very little begging, and the majority of the people are well-dressed and driving well-kept motorbikes. There are even proper toy stores everywhere, something which one does not see in either Laos or Thailand. However, the reason for this wealth is corruption. Cambodia suffers from one of the most corrupt governments in Asia with virtually all foreign aid money being put directly into the pockets of government workers rather than into social betterment of the people. Nowhere is this more evident than in the capital. When driving through the countryside, there are signs proclaiming "The Cambodian People's Party" every few hundred meters, in order to remind everyone of their power throughout the country. Yet, even through all this corruption, Cambodia (as in Laos and Vietnam) has absolutely no McDonald's, Starbucks, Pizza Huts, or any other Americanized institution of fattening food. It is so refreshing to finally find a little corner of this earth in which America has yet to put its stamp of consumerism. I'm sure that we only have to wait a few years though until the ink comes down.

After spending a couple of more delightful days in the capital sightseeing and gorging on local Khmer curries, we headed on a local bus to Siem Reap in order to be dazzled by Angkor Wat